Chamarajanagar: Villagers setting fire to forests?

Chamarajanagar: As forest officials of Bandipur National Park struggle to douse the fire in the Gopalaswamy Betta range, where it has been raging for three days now, fresh cases of villagers setting fire to the forests using incense sticks and ropes were reported on Monday.

Range Forest Officer (RFO) Puttaswamy believes it is a well planned attack on Bandipur by the villagers, who are unhappy with the rules that are keeping them out of the forests. If the fire is doused at one place, they set fire to another , he says.

Villagers use the cover of darkness to set fire to the forests using incense sticks or ropes. “These people, who live on the fringes of Bandipur,  don’t care much for  rules and enter the forests  early morning with incense sticks, which burn slowly and go unnoticed, until it gets windy and the fire spreads,” he says. Unfortunately, the GS Betta terrain makes the task of dousing the fire difficult, according to him. “Had the terrain been different, we would have been able to contain the fire, but as it is a hilly region with gusty winds blowing day and night it has been hard to fight it,” he added. It is a losing battle during  the day and forest personnel have some success only in the evening, when it is relatively less windy, he reveals.